Fire-Adapted, Firewise, and Fire Safe, Explained

As fire season approaches in California, local news outlets throughout the state are reporting about “Fire-Adapted Communities,” “Firewise Communities” and “Fire Safe Councils.”  These terms describe government programs and best practices developed with the aim of fostering wildfire resilient neighborhoods.

Fire-Adapted Communities

The US Fire Administration (USFA), under the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), provides grant funding and educational materials on best practices for creating and maintaining wildfire resilient communities. This effort is focused on homes in the wildland urban interface zone, which has its own acronym—WUI (pronounced “woo-ee”). 

A fire-adapted community is one that follows the seven steps prescribed by the USFA:

Form a collaboration of community stakeholders; identify community risks; create a written risk assessment; identify actionable steps; build partnerships to help with the action plan; execute the action plan; update and maintain the action plan.

The first step, to form a collaboration of stakeholders, is a common thread in wildfire risk mitigation. Community members need to work together to make their community more resilient. 

Creating and using a written risk assessment and action plan is a useful organizing tool, and the USFA provides sample Community Wildfire Protection Plan templates on its website.

Firewise Communities

The Firewise program is administered by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), a 501(c)3 nonprofit ranked with four stars by Charity Navigator.  The NFPA’s mission is essentially to make a safer world. They do this by advocating for safety-enhancing building and electrical codes and standards, research, professional training and public education.

Firewise communities are certified by the NFPA after they have followed the fire-adapted community standard of forming a core group and partnerships, developing a wildfire risk assessment plan, creating a wildfire resiliency plan, and working with community members and partners to execute the plan. 

Communities which have created and executed wildfire assessments and action plans may apply for national Firewise recognition from the NFPA, which can make homeowners in the community eligible for discounts on fire insurance, including California Fair Plan policies.

As of this writing, there are more than 800 Firewise certified communities in California, with the number increasing ever more rapidly.

Fire Safe Councils

Fire Safe Councils are 501(c)3 nonprofit organizations operating in California. Members of Fire Safe Councils include representatives from local fire agencies and CalFire, local governments, local businesses and members of the public. 

Each Fire Safe Council’s  mission is to promote the creation and maintenance of local Firewise communities, and offer services to assist in the creation and maintenance of fire adapted communities and evacuation routes.

The California Fire Safe Council was incorporated in 2002 with the mission to act as a grants distribution clearinghouse to local Fire Safe Councils.

Living With Wildfire

The best practices informing the strategies used in fire adapted communities are based on experimental research conducted by fire scientists in the 1990s about how structures catch fire in wildfires. Measures to mitigate wildfire risk concentrate on three concentric “fire ignition” zones:

Zone 0 is the structure itself and an area of 5 feet around it. Effort is focused on  keeping rain gutters free of flammable debris such as leaves and pine needles, keeping the area under decks free of flammable stored or accumulated materials, plugging gaps under eaves, screening all vents,The use of non combustible materials for roofs and sidings is recommended (goodbye quaint wooden shingles), as is the clearing of landscaping immediately around the structure. California law (AB 3074 September 2020) mandates this zone be hardened to be “ember resistant” in “High” and “Very High” Fire Hazard Severity Zones, as many structure fires are ignited by embers flying in advance of flames.

Zone 1 is the area of 5 to 30 feet around the structure. The focus here is on hardened landscaping and fire breaks. Trees should have low branches pruned; lawns and native grasses should be mowed to a maximum height of four inches; “ladder fuels” under trees should be removed. Trees should be spaced a minimum of eighteen feet between crowns and no closer than ten feet from structures.

Zone 2 is the area of 30 to 100 feet from the structure. In this zone, the goal is to interrupt the path of the fire and keep flames smaller and on the ground. Accumulations of ground litter and debris, as well as dead plants and trees, are removed. Small conifers growing between taller trees are removed. Trees are thinned so there is a clearance of twelve feet between canopies.

Fire-hardening a property to create defensible space is not only about protecting structures, but also about protecting the firefighters who may ultimately be tasked with saving a home. Taken together, the hardening of the three fire ignition zones creates a defensible space in which fire fighters may safely operate to tackle threats to structures and people.

The California Public Resources Code mandates that in State Responsibility Areas, defined as lands protected by CalFire, that landowners maintain a 100 foot defensible space around structures.

Following the massive die off of trees due to drought and bark beetle, property owners in forested areas faced heavy costs in maintaining the defensible space around homes and other structures. 

The state responded by allocating more money to Fire Safe Councils and county and local agencies. The funds paid for the removal and disposal of dead trees and vegetation, as well as other fuel-reduction projects such as shaded fire breaks along evacuation routes. It even covered free chipping services to property owners whose fuel-reduction projects produced piles of branches and other flammable waste. 

As the length of wildfire season grows and the encroachment of development into wildland extends, the web of programs informed by fire science and funded by state and local agencies has become a literal lifesaver. 

If you live in the wildlands and are not already a part of a Firewise Community, there’s no better time to step up and lead the effort to coordinate with your neighbors and local agencies and start the work of adapting your neighborhood and getting certified.